Violence in video games

[KingsGambit]

As for the actual story demi linked to, I can hardly believe the gall of the guy who placed the hoax call to say that it wasn't his fault.

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article192336829.html

This is one reason I'm so against violent video games. Not only are they a huge waste of time (the amount of time people spend on them) but the culture of gaming is fundamentally sick to the point where this swatting sort of thing is common, but perhaps that is to be expected with an activity where you simulate killing each other. My brother flunked out of college, partly because he got so addicted to gaming that he wouldn't leave his dorm room (there were other health issues going on but that was part of it).

[demi-conservative]

This is one reason I'm so against violent video games. Not only are they a huge waste of time (the amount of time people spend on them) but the culture of gaming is fundamentally sick to the point where this swatting sort of thing is common, but perhaps that is to be expected with an activity where you simulate killing each other.

Nice twist on ol' 'video games will make kids violent', now is 'violent video gamers swat each other!!!'

[KingsGambit]

Nice twist on ol' 'video games will make kids violent', now is 'violent video gamers swat each other!!!'

That's true, they have been doing this quite a bit lately.

[demi-conservative]

That's true, they have been doing this quite a bit lately.

Worst case triggerhappy cop will just use Get Out Of Jail Free card, 'but shocked, stressed innocent guy wasn't following orders!!!' or 'I thought I saw a weapon!!!'

[Terraceth]

You complain about violent video games, but then the things you go on to criticize seem unrelated to the level of violence in video games.

[Starlight]

You complain about violent video games, but then the things you go on to criticize seem unrelated to the level of violence in video games.

Agreed.

Actual problem was a prank call (criminal in nature) combined with police violence (once again). Nothing much to do with video games.

In loosely related news the WHO is seriously considering creating a new mental disorder classification for those with debilitating video game addiction.

[Mountain Man]

As for the actual story demi linked to, I can hardly believe the gall of the guy who placed the hoax call to say that it wasn't his fault.

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article192336829.html

This is one reason I'm so against violent video games. Not only are they a huge waste of time (the amount of time people spend on them) but the culture of gaming is fundamentally sick to the point where this swatting sort of thing is common, but perhaps that is to be expected with an activity where you simulate killing each other. My brother flunked out of college, partly because he got so addicted to gaming that he wouldn't leave his dorm room (there were other health issues going on but that was part of it).

It's not the game's fault that your brother flunked out of college. That was just his escape. If it wasn't gaming then it would have been something else. Maybe rock-n-roll, or Dungeons & Dragons, or anything else that has been blamed for society's ills at one time or other.

There have been countless studies conducted over the years, and not a single one has conclusively proven a link between violent video games and real violence.

[Catholicity]

It's not the game's fault that your brother flunked out of college. That was just his escape. If it wasn't gaming then it would have been something else. Maybe rock-n-roll, or Dungeons & Dragons, or anything else that has been blamed for society's ills at one time or other.

There have been countless studies conducted over the years, and not a single one has conclusively proven a link between violent video games and real violence.

No genuinely people get thrills off video game violence and imitating that violence in real life. Somehow we as a culture have shifted from Mario Bros. baseball tetris and Donkey kong as well as sonic the the hedgehog to Grand theft auto 3 Zombie games and games where the point is to shoot out and shoot up and entire group of people and even its elelevated to "funny' status to have an entire swat team fake called to an anomymous person's home. i find a real and relevant connnection to video gaming if said person starts IP tracing then goes and fakes a hostage situation and someone gets killed. Now they are considering labeling it and addiction. I don't think there's a a thing as video game addiction at all any more than there is fairy dust. When i was a kid it was called the on and off button. and if you didn't respond when mom and dad said turn that thing off, you got a good dose he're I'lll show you what happens when..........you don't turn the button off.

[Mountain Man]

My kids try to use the "I can't quit this game right now" excuse, but I tell them "I can make any game quit", then I walk over and pull the plug. My son knows better than to start a StarCraft 2 multiplayer match 5-minutes before dinner.

But perhaps I should not say there is no link between violent games and real violence but that there is no causal link. That is to say that violent people might be attracted to violent games, but a violent game won't turn a physiologically healthy person into a homicidal maniac. Otherwise a best seller like Grand Theft Auto 5 that sold tens of millions of copies would have started a world-wide crime epidemic, and we simply haven't seen that happen.

Let's put it this way: Most people when confronted with real violence are scared out of their minds no matter how much they've been "desensitized" through literature, comicbooks, movies, TV, music, games, or whatever else you want to blame.

I'm not suggesting there aren't other moral issues at play, but blaming games or any other form of entertainment for society's problems is a cop-out.

[Terraceth]

No genuinely people get thrills off video game violence and imitating that violence in real life. Somehow we as a culture have shifted from Mario Bros. baseball tetris and Donkey kong as well as sonic the the hedgehog to Grand theft auto 3 Zombie games and games where the point is to shoot out and shoot up and entire group of people and even its elelevated to "funny' status to have an entire swat team fake called to an anomymous person's home.

People found it "funny" to play pranks on people long before video games ever existed, and swattings are rarely (if ever) done to anonymous people, it's someone you know to at least some extent. It only went to an anonymous person here because the swatter used the wrong address, it was supposed to be done to someone they were annoyed with (pranking someone you were annoyed with goes waaaaay back before video games ever existed).

i find a real and relevant connnection to video gaming if said person starts IP tracing then goes and fakes a hostage situation and someone gets killed.

This is like saying that if I work at a grocery store and get passed over for a promotion, me swatting my boss (or pulling some other kind of prank as revenge) has a "real and relevant connection" to groceries. That's silly. And what about all the times this sort of thing has happened with no connection to video games? Quite a few celebrities have gotten this kind of thing done to them, no video game connection. There are people who like pulling dumb and potentially harmful pranks, video games have nothing to do with that fact.

Someone might point out that this thing does seem more common in videogaming (although still quite rare, it's just one of those "gets lots of attention when it happens"). Here's the thing: I don't think it's the video games themselves that have anything to do with it at all. There are two things in particular that have made it more popular, for a given definition of popular:
1) Streaming games live is a thing a lot of people do, so someone who gets swat'd has a possibility of it being caught online in real time. Swatting actually went up in popularity after a video of this one guy playing a game suddenly getting assaulted by police went viral, because it made people realize they could not only do this, but could see it in real time. Previously, it was much harder to actually see the direct results of a prank like this; are you going to stick around after keying someone's car? The ability to see results makes people more bold. This has nothing to do with the games themselves and is instead the result of streaming.
2) Pulling this sort of thing off requires some level of technological knowhow. People who play or watch other people play computer games are more likely to possess that knowhow.

But let us suppose the problem is, in fact, the video games. What does this have to do with the violence in it, as was claimed? Can you demonstrate that there is a clear correlation between the violence of a game and the frequency of swattings that result? There's been Minecraft-related swattings and Minecraft is roughly as violent as The LEGO Movie. That was my original contention, that the original post was blaming video game violence but then talking about general video game things that had nothing to do with the violence in the games.

Now they are considering labeling it and addiction. I don't think there's a a thing as video game addiction at all any more than there is fairy dust. When i was a kid it was called the on and off button. and if you didn't respond when mom and dad said turn that thing off, you got a good dose he're I'lll show you what happens when..........you don't turn the button off.

What in the world does the ability to turn something off have to do with whether something is an addiction or not? Are you saying cigarette smoking isn't an addiction because you can rip the cigarette from someone?

[Darth Executor]

That's true, they have been doing this quite a bit lately.

considering the huge % of the population that plays violent video games it's really not "quite a bit" at all.

[lilpixieofterror]

As for the actual story demi linked to, I can hardly believe the gall of the guy who placed the hoax call to say that it wasn't his fault.

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article192336829.html

This is one reason I'm so against violent video games. Not only are they a huge waste of time (the amount of time people spend on them) but the culture of gaming is fundamentally sick to the point where this swatting sort of thing is common, but perhaps that is to be expected with an activity where you simulate killing each other. My brother flunked out of college, partly because he got so addicted to gaming that he wouldn't leave his dorm room (there were other health issues going on but that was part of it).

I don’t think I can agree with you here KG. I have played video games with violence and don’t think it’s okay to call in a fake police report. Most wont do this either because most gamers are mentally balanced and know the difference between a game and reality.

[Mountain Man]

What in the world does the ability to turn something off have to do with whether something is an addiction or not? Are you saying cigarette smoking isn't an addiction because you can rip the cigarette from someone?

The general argument is that you can't become truly addicted to things like games, television, music, reading, the internet, and so on because you can't become physically dependent on external stimulus. Many psychologists identify an unhealthy obsession with such things as a behavioral or psychological problem rather than an addiction.

[Cerebrum123]

No genuinely people get thrills off video game violence and imitating that violence in real life. Somehow we as a culture have shifted from Mario Bros. baseball tetris and Donkey kong as well as sonic the the hedgehog to Grand theft auto 3 Zombie games and games where the point is to shoot out and shoot up and entire group of people and even its elelevated to "funny' status to have an entire swat team fake called to an anomymous person's home. i find a real and relevant connnection to video gaming if said person starts IP tracing then goes and fakes a hostage situation and someone gets killed. Now they are considering labeling it and addiction. I don't think there's a a thing as video game addiction at all any more than there is fairy dust. When i was a kid it was called the on and off button. and if you didn't respond when mom and dad said turn that thing off, you got a good dose he're I'lll show you what happens when..........you don't turn the button off.

There have always been violent video games, the only difference now is in how realistic they make it look. Splatterhouse, House of the Dead, DOOM, Wolfenstein, Mortal Kombat, and many many things showed up early in video game history. There was a point when there was no rating system at all, and really disturbing stuff got published. Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Tetris, and others are still widely played, and in the case of Mario, still hugely popular. The Nintendo Switch is something like the fastest selling console in history by now. So the culture really hasn't changed much. At least not as far as what games are being made, and which ones are popular.

I play a lot of games, from a lot of different genres. These guys are worse than trolls, which are nearly universally* frowned upon. So they are going to be seen as bottom of the barrel scum by most people. When people doing something as petty as ruining other people's games is taboo to any decent person, do you really think doing stuff that can ruin another person's life is not seen at least as bad? This is regardless of the level of violence in a game.

There is nothing about "swatting" that is inherently linked to violent video games, at least not that I'm seeing.

*They are only respected or liked by other trolls.

[Mountain Man]

I remember reading a survey many years ago that said that Super Mario Bros. was, at the time, the most violent game on the market based on the number of creatures that Mario callously stomps on throughout his adventure. Yes, the people who wrote the article were serious.